Software copyright

Reuters: Lawsuit filed to prohibit copyright protection of software

Computer software should not be protected by copyright laws designed for music, literature and other creative works, according to a lawsuit filed in a U.S. court in San Francisco.

Intellectual-property consultant Greg Aharonian hopes to convince the court that software makers can protect their products adequately through patents, which provide more comprehensive protection, but are difficult to obtain and expire in a shorter period of time

The complaint, via Joe Gratz, who notes: "Unsurprisingly for a pro se constitutional litigant, his complaint is long on argument and short on factual allegations. And his theory – that software copyright is void for vagueness – is simply not going anywhere."

Kaiser Wahab: Attorney to Ashcroft: Should Software be Copyrighted at All? No.: "Expressly barring copyright registration for software code would have tremendous ramifications for the raging software piracy war."

Chris Cohen: Lawsuit filed to force protection of sotware with patent instead of copyright: "I don't know if this is a really interesting idea or if it's just nutty. One thing is for sure, regular copyright terms for software is ridiculous - like most copyrighted material it is utterly worthless after 100 years or more."